Two Sequences

From James Bond's first encounter with SMERSH in Casino Royale by Ian Fleming to UNCLE's eventual destruction of Thrush as a global organization in The Final Affair by David McDaniel is one long literary sequence although it might not be easily recognizable as such.

The highlights are:

Bond's defeat of SMERSH;

Krushchev's disbandment of it;

Blofeld's recruitment of former members of SMERSH and of similar organizations into SPECTRE;

Bond's destruction of two versions of SPECTRE;

his assassination of Blofeld in Japan;

his reinstatement in the Secret Service and continued conflict with the KGB;

the introduction of Thrush on TV;

the elaboration of Thrush in original novels by David McDaniel;

the eventual destruction of Thrush.

There is a second sequence:

SPECTRE originated in a screen treatment;

from there, it moved not only into Fleming's novels (see above) but also into the James Bond films;

in the films, SPECTRE's numbered members were controlled by a mysterious Number One;

this numerical system was duplicated by the totalitarian Village in The Prisoner TV series;

the Prisoner realized that he was Number One and destroyed the Village.

In Casino Royale, Bond bankrupted Le Chiffre who was then assassinated by SMERSH. This tradition of the evil organization eliminating its own failures was continued both by SPECTRE and by Thrush.